After the gold rush

I think I managed to catch all the important bits this weekend at the Olympics from Usain Bolt jogging to a world record to every Great Britain rider who started an event on the track winning a medal. Looking ahead the only one I think I might miss watching live is Shanaze Reade in the BMX, which is ironically the one I most want to see.

I’ve now seen the balletic flow of the team pursuit as the four glided round the track to an incredible world record and marvelled at the controlled power of Hoy, Kenny and Pendleton as they move through the rounds of the individual sprint. I must be a dreadful sensation to find yourself sitting in the middle of the track and not wearing a skinsuit marked “Great Britain”.

The stat that most astounds me is that there’s only one event thus far where a rider has failed to finish with a medal. That was Rebecca Romero in the Women’s Points Race. She’s got a half-decent excuse though as she only got a briefing on how to ride one in the morning and it was only the second time she had ridden one. How many people can say they finished 11th in the Olympics Points Race on their second ride?

Last time I finished 11th in any race was when I got mistaken for someone else who looks nothing like me and that was after an entire season’s racing. I finished 19th last Tuesday in case you were wondering, despite riding well up to the last 400 metres.

Watching the telly I don’t feel much like enthusing about my ride now. It’d be much akin to talking about a single sparkler while watching the Beijing Opening Ceremony. Nevertheless I will mention that it rained like the sky was falling in and was ball-achingly cold.